"Homeowners seek strength in numbers; Calif. families face banks together" by Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times | December 14, 2008
LOS ANGELES - Shortly after the Rev. John Lasseigne took over as pastor of Mary Immaculate Church of Pacoima last summer, a couple and their well-dressed children came to him after Mass and asked the priest to pray for them because they were about to lose their home.
The request was Lasseigne's introduction to the epidemic of foreclosures afflicting his parish in the northeast San Fernando Valley, a working-class, heavily immigrant area where more than 8,000 homes are either in default or have been foreclosed.
Over the last three months, Lasseigne and other community leaders have come up with an unusual response: They have organized more than 500 Hispanic immigrant families who are behind on their payments into teams that will seek to negotiate with banks as a group, rather than individually.
They also intend to compile detailed records of how and whether lending institutions agree to modify loans - information they say could be given to government officials in an attempt to give distressed homeowners more favorable terms.
AHEM!
"lenders were more likely to offer a modified loan that resulted in a higher, not lower, monthly payment"
"If we don't make progress with the banks, we certainly expect to make progress with our elected officials," said Lasseigne, whose congregation is a member of the community-organizing group One-LA, a local affiliate of the left-leaning Industrial Areas Foundation.
Is this guy just a fool or....?
The effort represents an unusual attempt at "collective negotiation" between a community and banks, as well as information-sharing among homeowners, housing specialists say, and local leaders say they hope it can be a model for other places. It comes as policymakers grapple with the recent news that one in 10 US homeowners with a mortgage were either one month behind on a payment or in foreclosure at the end of September.
But the effort has also prompted skepticism from some who say it is unrealistic to expect banks to bail out homeowners who got in way over their heads - especially as a group. "The loans were not made en masse," said Tom Kelly, spokesman for Chase Bank. "The issue of mortgages is a home-by-home, mortgage-by-mortgage issue."
Yeah, the REALLY BIG BAILOUTS are for BANKS!!! Notice how Chase seems to have been unaffected by the crisis?
Modifying may be tricky in an area where home values have fallen hundreds of thousands of dollars from levels of a few years ago. That's because many borrowers have low-paying jobs and poor credit and may not be able to afford even a modified loan at a fixed rate under strict lending standards.
Especially if the PAYMENT RISES!!! And so much for that loan liquidity your bailout went for, taxpayers!
Many in Pacoima and surrounding communities say they have to do something - and trying to negotiate on their own with banks does not seem to be saving their homes.
You thought it would?
The effort had its first big event this month, when about 60 homeowners met at a law office in Pacoima with representatives of Chase Bank, which now also handles loans serviced by Washington Mutual.
"Individually, they won't listen to us. If we come together as a community, maybe we have a chance," said Jose Hernandez, 28, a special education teacher who is hoping to save the home where he lives with his mother and father, two sisters, and three nieces, all pooling their resources to make the mortgage payment on a three-bedroom house.
Oh, he HAS a JOB, does he?
Community leaders say the story of the Hernandez family is sadly typical of what happened to many in this area. Hernandez's parents, immigrants from El Salvador, bought their house for $488,000 in 2005. Although they both had low-paying jobs at a local dry cleaner, they were approved for a loan. And they were able to put $100,000 down, mostly from the proceeds of a small town house they had sold.
You mean they had ANOTHER PIECE of PROPERTY?
Do YOU have TWO HOUSES, readers? This article is turning insulting!
"This was something my mom wanted so bad," Hernandez said, gesturing around the living room. His mother was thrilled to be able to throw birthday parties for her granddaughters in the back yard - and with everyone in the house contributing toward the mortgage, "it felt good. We were all helping each other."
Then things started to fall apart. Hernandez said his mother had wanted a fixed rate, but was steered instead to a "negative amortizing loan," in which the family was allowed to make less than a standard principal and interest payment each month. But the principal would slowly increase. Today, they owe more than $500,000. At the same time, the value of their house has plummeted and might now be worth less than $300,000.
Looking back, Hernandez said he can't believe he was foolish enough to let his mother get into a loan under such terms, but a broker he trusted assured him he would be able to refinance. Recently, the terms of the loan changed so that the family must now start paying back their principal, meaning their monthly payment has shot up to $4,000 from $2,300.
Hey, go ask Paulson for a bailout!
Yeah, the AMERICAN DREAM is only for IMMIGRANTS here in the Zionist War Daily's pages! When I think of ALL the AMERICANS who have lost jobs and homes, and then to see this SELECTIVE BULLS*** in the paper... aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!
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